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August 14, 2011

G119: Mariners 5, Red Sox 3

Tim Wakefield came up short yet again in trying to get his 200th major league victory. He went the distance (8-9-5-2-4, 94), but a disastrous third inning -- three hits, two walks, two infield errors -- sealed his fate.

Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run dong in the eighth to close the gap, but the next four Boston batters were retired.

The umpiring in the early part of the game was beyond terrible. Alfonso Marquez (1B) called Dustin Pedroia out in the first inning even though first baseman Mike Carp's foot was clearly off the bag; in his defence, Marquez was out of position and could not see Carp's foot. In the third, Ed Hickox (2B) decided not to call the neighbourhood play at second on an attempted Boston double play; the Mariners went on to score two more runs in that inning. Home plate umpire Brian O'Nora made numerous bad calls in both directions, and for both teams. Several batters, including David Ortiz, were shooting daggers at Mark Ripperger (3B) after he ruled they had not checked their swings.

3-2 pitch they show close up of pitcher from behind plate and barely pan back in time to show hitter, who swings, and hits the ball....somewhere, we don't see, and Don doesn't tell us.

reminds me of listening to mfy games on the radio and being told the batter "fouls it off to the side" or "hit foul down the line".

i am sure there are many things to juggle during a game, but the producer/director has a finite number of cameras, and a general idea of where action will happen. don't worry about quick cuts to various players and the benches (that happens more in the post-season). show the action.

Can I ask a question? When the runner is trying to steal second with < 2 out, is a dropped third swinging strike alive, or not? That is, can the batter run? (It just happened when Crawford stole second.)

Well no one will care about this, other than the fact that it's yet another mess-up, but I talked to Kim, asked if her Seattle flower friend was "Jean-Louise Cash." She said, that's her, but Cash is her son's name. So Don was supposed to say "Mike, Jean-Louise, and Cash" as the people who gave them the bouquet, and who he "stole" the vase from, but said "Mike and Jean-Louise Cash." Funny how I got inside access to a mistake no one would have a chance of picking up on.

Okay, now I should just boycotting this game. Wait a minute...what the fuck is Remy doing here? He sees clear evidence that he was out, says he thought there was no question, then sees replay and starts talking about how the foot never touched the bag, AS IF LOWRIE DID ANYTHING DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER SS ON ANY OTHER DP! Remy's just letting this go without even mentioning the phantom tag/neighborhood rule? It's not like he was five feet off the bag.

"On an uncaught third strike, with no runner on first base or with two outs, the batter immediately becomes a runner. The strike is called, but the umpire does not call the batter out. ... The batter may then attempt to reach first base, and must be tagged or thrown out. ... Note that if, at the time of the strike three pitch, first base is occupied with fewer than two outs, the batter is automatically out and cannot become a runner. This is to prevent the defense from deliberately dropping a third strike pitch and getting a double or triple play ..."

But if he's specifically asking about when the runner is going, then, still, that doesn't matter. First base was still "occupied." The guy could be all the way around second by the time the pitch crosses the plate, but the batter is still automatically out.

oh jee-zus! Again on what turns out to be the pitch where the batter hits the ball, they show a weird SIDE angle of contact being made! What the fuck is going on?? This is how they're attracting the young generation? Do wacky and interesting angles all you want on replays, but not on the actual hit.

So, to clarify, a major league ump saw this on a double play and called it safe.

I'm thinking since Jed came off the bag so fast, the ump thought he left the area early. But Remy for some reason was so focused on whether he was physically making contact with the bag it never even came up.